INTRODUCTION

The Pentagon War was the full-scale war between the five systems of Human and
Alpha-Centaurian populated space that took place over the course of several
years during the twenty-third century (2201-2300 C.E.). Along the way,
all manner of interplanetary spacecraft were constructed by each star system,
using very limited ranges of weapons in unlimited varieties of spacecraft
designs. "The Pentagon War" game is structured, therefore, to let you,
the players, build the types of spacecraft you want to play.

The five populated systems of known space are connected by "Hyper holes"
— artificial rifts in hyperspace that connect two points in real-space
through a parallel space where time has no meaning — which allow journeys
of several light-years in zero real time. These were just great for
interstellar commerce, but during wartime they were just hindrances, especially
since there was no known way to "plug them up." Since the arrangement of hyper
hole lines connected the star systems in a rather crude pentagon, populated
space was nicknamed "The Pentagon" by the Human and Alpha-Centaurian cultures
that inhabited it.

The systems are, in descending order of relative aggression: Sirius (mostly
Alpha-Centaurian inhabited), Barnard (mostly Human inhabited), Sol,
Alpha-Centauri, and Human-Centauri (an artificial star system about half Human
and half Centaurian). Human-Centauri was involuntarily dragged into the
war, while Sirius practically started it. It should be noted that there
are no alliances between star systems; every system is the enemy of
every other system, even Human-Centauri.

The hyper holes were created by Hyper Bombs, devices invented over a century
before the War. Hyper Bombs are still used, although sparringly since
they are tremendously expensive (they must be loaded with 50 kilograms of
antimatter, enough to destroy an entire planet). To protect themselves
from small renegade raids through the holes, each system had a "Gate Guard"
battle station posted at each hyper hole, which was fully capable of holding
its own against two or three smaller spacecraft.